Vibration of moving platforms can cause fatigue and wear on equipment, structural elements, occupants thereof, and/or contents associated therewith. Moving platforms can include vehicular and/or non-vehicular systems having moving elements, such as for example, aircraft, helicopters, ships, hovercraft, and/or other modes of transportation.
In rotating assembly aircraft vehicles such as helicopters for example, vibrations are particularly problematic as the vibrations can damage the helicopter structure, which can significantly limit the helicopter's operational life and/or components thereof. Conventional vibration control devices and systems utilize hub-mounted bifilar absorbers for mitigating vibrations. However, such devices and systems operate as a function of force input from the rotor and achieve maximum efficiency at only one force frequency level. In addition, conventional devices and systems incorporate multiple different materials without compensating for mismatches in thermal coefficients of expansion, and are therefore susceptible to thermal degradation, fretting, wear, and damage from heat generated by the devices and/or systems.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved vibration control devices, systems, and methods for controlling vibrations of a moving platform. In particular, there is a need to control rotary vibrations induced by a helicopter hub so that the vibrations are more efficiently minimized. There is also a need to for lightweight, compact, and robust vibration control devices, systems, and methods.